Men’s Basketball Advances To Semi Finals of ECAC Tournament

Chestnut Hill, Mass. – Pine Manor College hosted the first round of the ECAC tournament against Elms College this week. The double overtime thriller saw the Gators chomp past the Blazers with a 127-124 victory. The win lifts Pine Manor to the next round as they travel to Colby-Sawyer to take on the #1 seed Nichols.

The Blazers were led by Jerry Buchanon who had a game high 39 points. Symon Smith netted 26 points and 9 rebounds. Trifon Bish played as a key reserve as he contributed 20 points off the bench as Conny Ihearahu notched a double-double with 18 points and a game high 17 rebounds.

Pine Manor were led by the duo of Taverick Roberson and Rasheed Bell as each player posted 34 points as Roberson added 6 helpers and Bell received a double-double with 12 rebounds. Ellis Reid received a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Erick Rosario led the Gators 2nd unit with 20 points to go along with 6 steals and 6 rebounds.

The first half finished as the Gators went into the break leading 50-40. The home team was led by Rasheed Bell who finished the first half with 24 points shooting a blazing 9-11 from the field including four three pointers. Symon Smith had 12 points for the visitors along with Jerry Buchanon’s 11 points. Elms started to close the gap early in the second half as they pulled within three after Buchanon finished a tough layup. At the 6:50 Buchanon knocked both freethrows to bring the Gators lead to one. Next possession down after a Roberson layup Buchannon converted three point play to tie it up at 82-82. The game was evenly played the rest of the way with Smith knocking down 1 of 2 free throws to give the visitors a two point led with 19 seconds remaining. The ensuing possession saw Roberson miss his first layup attempt but got his own rebound and finished.

The first overtime period was evenly played as each team had a chance to pull ahead but the other responded with the Gators leading by as much as 7 points. But the Blazers would not be denied as each team scored 14 points in the period.

The second overtime saw the home team hold the lead for good as they outscored the Blazers 17-14 in route to victory.